Chesterbrook Precinct: Comstock makes her pitch in delegate race

Eager to shore up her own support at the key Chesterbrook precinct in McLean, Republican delegate candidate Barbara J. Comstock has arrived to join her mom, shake hands and cheer on five of her supporters actively campaigning here on her behalf.

Loose and cheerful - still wearing a warm red coat she put on before heading out to do last-minute campaigning in the frigid predawn hours - Comstock told voters she was "very excited" about the results of tonight's election, in which she hopes to unseat Del. Margaret Vanderhye (D). But Comstock didn't go nearly as far as her mother in predicting a landslide victory.

The Comstock campaign has aggressively targeted voters in this precinct. The candidate said that her campaign had knocked on every door in Precinct 302. She visited the back-to-school nights and attended meet-and-greets in the neighborhood.

"It's been a good response," Comstock said.

Many of those standing outside the polling place seemed receptive to her entreaties. One woman - going to vote with her three-year-old - said she saw Comstock at Safeway a few days before.

Comstock has worked hard to benefit from rising dissatisfaction with Democrats at the state and national level. She touts her background as a small businesswoman, and she told a reporter at the polling place that it would be good for the 34th House of Delegates district to have a Republican with Robert McDonnell as governor.

She was still emphasizing how she and McDonnell will create jobs and build roads for Northern Virginia as she visited Chesterbrook.

"Over and over, that's what we focused on," she said. "That's what the state government can do something about...It's good for Northern Virginians to have Republicans as well as Democrats fighting for them. I'm going to be down there fighting for our fair share of tax dollars."

The candidate began her day at Langley High School and has made stops in Spring Hills, Great Falls and Vienna. She said Democrats have told her they will support her, and she said she's aggressively reached out to independents.